Cuban Archives

Cuban leader Fidel Castro (1926-2016) established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after leading an overthrow of the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. He ruled over Cuba for nearly five decades. During that time, Castro’s regime was successful in reducing illiteracy, stamping out racism and improving public health care. Castro’s Cuba also had a highly antagonistic relationship with the United States–most notably resulting in the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The two nations officially normalized relations in July 2015, ending a trade embargo that had been in place since 1960, when U.S.-owned businesses in Cuba were nationalized without compensation. Castro died on November 25, 2016, at 90.
This archive has footage from the early 1960’s including Che Guevara and other prominent figures and events. Refer to Video Archive Search for more material on this subject.